Date:08/10/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/10/08/stories/2007100855040500.htm

Andhra Pradesh

MLA’s thrust on sanitation

Correspondent

Kakinada: The local Congress MLA Mutha Gopalakrishna has mooted the idea of improving the sanitation and the traffic regulations in the growing port city, emulating the pattern of American cities.

He wanted to chalk out a plan of action enlisting the support of all the political parties, people’s organisations and the NGOs, to motivate the people and inculcate the habit of keeping the environment clean instead of depending upon the municipal public health workers. The people also would be educated on the need for law abiding and strictly adhere to traffic rules.

Giving out his plan of action at a press conference here on Sunday, the MLA said that he wanted to take up both the issues-sanitation and traffic on an experimental basis according top priority. He said the plan implementation would be totally apolitical and aimed at bringing a sea change in the town. Stating that he had observed a lot during his one and half month trip to United States and was impressed by the law-abiding nature of the people there.

‘The sanitation and the traffic have been extraordinarily good there. The reason, what I could find was that they respect the law and no political interference. The local bodies would attend to the sanitation work only to the extent of 30 per cent but major part is by the people themselves. They will give utmost importance for the environmental cleanliness which needed to be emulated,’ he added. Gopalakrishna is confident that both sanitation and traffic could be improved considerably within six months, if concerted efforts are made cutting across party lines.